Light emitting diodes (LEDs) or LED chips are solid state devices that convert electrical energy into light. LED chips can be utilized in light emitter components or packages for providing different colors and patterns of light useful in various lighting and optoelectronic applications. Light emitter components and methods can be used in various LED light bulb and light fixture applications, and are developing as replacements for incandescent, fluorescent, and metal halide high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting applications.
Conventional light emitter components can utilize one or more LED chips mounted within a component body and surrounded by a reflector cavity. The component body and integrally formed reflector cavity can be molded from the same material, and portions of the body are typically molded about electrical contacts or leads. Individually molding component bodies can be both expensive and time-consuming. Moreover, changing features related to the reflector cavity require that new molds and/or presses be designed and implemented.
Thus, despite the availability of various light emitter components in the marketplace, a need remains for components and methods which can be produced quickly and efficiently, and which can use a reflective ceramic submount thereby obviating the need for a reflector cavity. In one aspect, submount based components can allow for customized components readily adaptable to different sizes, shapes, and/or for use with secondary submounts such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), external circuitry, heat sinks, FR4 material, and/or flexible circuit materials.